Train each bodypart once or twice a week?

by Ken
(United Kingdom)

Question:Okay I know as you get older you can still build muscle. But is it best to train each bodypart once or twice a week. I like to workout with weights four times a week, and do cardio on other days. But I keep getting told too train each bodypart twice a week if I want to build lean muscle. Well I think that would be to much for me, I'm 63 but still fit and active, age is just a number to me, but I want to train right.

Many thanks

Answer:Great question! Here's the truth about how many times per week to train each bodypart...

Each person is different. Some people will respond positively by working each body part more than once a week, but MOST people would be better off training each muscle group only once per week.

Sample Workout:ChestCardio and absBack and legsCardio and absBiceps and TricepsCardioShouldersOff

Occasionally you can hit a muscle group multiple times in a week, but for the majority of the time, people get their best results when they allow their muscles to recover properly.

Now keep in mind, this is not some written rule to building muscle. It's just like there is not 1 pair of shoes that's "One size fits all."

The body responds to change. Occasionally you can change your workouts so that it is so incredibly different than what your muscles are used to, and in this change, you could target a muscle more than once a week to throw the body off, then go right back to how you would normally do your workouts, which is hitting each muscle group once a week.

As a bodybuilder myself, I've been doing this for so long... and in this time, there's been so many changes in the workouts, and how the workouts are performed. Through these years of training, my best results come from training each muscle no more than once per week... and periodically, maybe a couple times a year, work problem areas a littler harder when their lagging behind.